Forum Oxford: Tablets as Remote Phone Controllers

Am contributing to a discussion happening over at Forum Oxford asking if tablets (and therefore laptops or desktops) can serve as remote phone controllers. Neat idea, and one which could have some implications for many of the mobile projects we’ve touched on (hint, hint). Here’s a snippet of the discussion:

Where is your phone when you use a tablet?

Not too far away? In your pocket?
Then…

Why couldn’t a ‘tablet’ just be an ‘external display’ for a phone?

1.Everything that is displayed on the phone screen is seen on the tablet.

2.Touch, swipe, tap, type: on the tablet screen to control the phone.

I’m wondering if anyone knows of or has seen something in the pipeline that might fit this scenario.

Do you think there could be a market for a ‘dumb’ terminal type device that connects to a phone for that purpose and that purpose only?